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Preparing the Future - Cheri Freeman
Cheri Freeman is a big reason why Wichita, KS is leading the nation in providing free tax preparation services for people with disabilities. As a woman with a disability, she is not only a recipient of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); she is also volunteering to prepare the taxes of other low-income people with disabilities.
The Independent Living Resource Center (ILRC) in Wichita, KS started a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site in 2005 and are building on their success from last year to make the program even better for 2006. The TAX FACTS Campaign- an initiative sponsored by the NCB Development Corporation (NCBDC) /National Disability Institute (NDI); National Cooperative Bank; the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center, University of Iowa; The Office on Disability, U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Stakeholder Partnership Education and Communication (IRS SPEC) initiative- began in 2004 with 11 cities and has expanded to 31 cities in 2006. As part of this campaign, Wichita has exceeded all expectations by creating an extensive network of disability organizations reaching out to a previously underserved population. Due largely to the leadership of IRS SPEC partner, Judy Stengel, Wichita is proving to be a model for inclusive low-income tax preparation.
Born and raised in Wichita, Cheri Freeman worked for the Raytheon Company in both Philadelphia and Dallas before her arthritis and depression forced her to go on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). She moved back to Wichita and started working for her brother, who runs a pawnshop that provides tax preparation services. She attended the tax training provided by H&R Block and works for her brother one day a week, preparing taxes for $49 a return.
Cheri wanted to do more. Everyday at the pawnshop, she saw mostly people of low-incomes coming in, paying to have their returns filed in order to apply their refunds to goods provided at the shop. Cheri used this income to support her life on SSDI, but when she heard that ILRC was starting a VITA site for people with disabilities, she knew that this was a great opportunity to give back to others with disabilities like herself.
Cheri sees a big difference between the people that come to the pawnshop and those that visit the ILRC VITA site. While often, the refunds received by ILRC participants are smaller than people filing at the pawnshop (they typically have less earned income, largely due to the restrictions of disability benefits programs on allowable earned income); Cheri found that even small refunds changed attitudes of people with disabilities. She saw that people became excited and started planning for the future. They saw that they could receive money simply by filing their taxes and began preparing for the next year.
According to LaRae Santiago, who heads up the ILRC VITA site, they will be open three days a week throughout tax season to provide free tax preparation for people with disabilities. She insists that, even for people that are not technically required to file because of their level of income, the Earned Income Tax Credit can still be a major benefit. For individuals living on very limited income, even a small refund (especially when the tax preparation is free) can be the first step to changing the way people look at money and at paying taxes. Cheri Freeman has witnessed this first-hand. She will be available at ILRC one day a week to provide free expert tax preparation for people with disabilities this tax season. ILRC will be taking part in the Wichita Disability Coalition’s Tax Blitz; Saturday February 4th- no appointment is necessary.
To find out more about joining the TAX FACTS coalition to help VITA sites in your city better serve people with disabilities, contact:
- Johnette T. Hartnett
- 202-218-7284
- Email: JHartnett@ncbdc.org
- Websites: http:// www.mastermymoney.org
- http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/projects/assetdevtaxpol.html
For more information about the TAX Facts Campaign, see the January 2005 EQUITY Article “The TAX FACTS SOLUTION: The Missing Link in Building Economic Security for Persons with Disabilities”